26th Nov 2023: Green Sandpiper

Not many visits or much news this week, but a couple of new birds for the year. 

Yesterday there was 2 Wigeon on the reservoir and up into the valley a Green Sandpiper flew north along the river calling. I managed to pick out a flock of Golden Plovers flying in the distance towards Chipping Warden and what was possibly an adult Caspian Gull in the fields but I couldn't confirm it.

Today Clive had 2 Goosanders fly over the reservoir. There was a couple of Lesser Redpolls around with one at the reservoir and one by the Borrow Pit pool. In amongst a reasonable number of gulls I found a couple of Yellow-legged Gulls and what looked like a Caspian Gull, but it wasn't quite right. I sent some photos to John and a couple of other friends and they agreed it looked off and later Ian Lewington confirmed it was probably a hybrid.

19th Nov 2023

It's fair to say it's been a fairly quiet couple of weeks. A few visits from a few different people hasn't resulted in anything particularly notable, but there's been a couple of interesting records.

Last Sunday Clive had 2 small waders fly over but couldn't see them well enough to ID. I'm assuming they were probably Dunlin. Sandra also counted 42 Tufted Ducks.

Wednesday morning I had 47 Cormorants at the reservoir, which I think is my biggest count here. There was also 4 Shoveler (2 pairs).

John had c.50 Lapwing fly over south yesterday. 

This morning a Little Egret was in the cattle field when Clive went round and it was still there this afternoon when John went round. He also saw a Peregrine.

5th Nov 2023

Sandra was out Monday morning and had the Barnacle Goose up at the Borrow Pit pool/fields in the valley. It appears to have gone as it hasn't been seen since then.

Tuesday morning I had 2 (possibly 3) Yellowhammers along the western side of the reservoir with more Reed Buntings than usual and 2 Chiffchaff. There was a noticeable increase of Robins, Blackbirds and Song Thrush too. Thursday morning there was a Fieldfare and 5 Great Crested Grebes again and a Raven over. 

This morning Adrian T and Clive had 3 Gadwall, 2 Shoveler and 40 Fieldfare.